“99 Dreams”: Nikita Gale’s First Solo Show in Korea Explores Possibility in Lack
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Nikita Gale’s first solo exhibition in Korea, “99 Dreams,” is on view at Barakat Contemporary in Samcheong-dong through Jan. 4. The site-specific installation recreates images from the artist’s dream journal: 99 teapots (98 on the gallery floor plus one at the reception) release mugwort-scented steam as lights, sound and vapor intersect to create an immersive, multi-sensory environment. The title’s use of 99—just short of a complete 100—symbolizes open possibility and the unconscious, positioning lack not as failure but as a space where imagination and new thinking emerge. The show pairs the installation with a publication of 99 dream-fragments and a photogram series that captures fleeting moments when unconscious fragments take shape; the teapot motif serves as a metaphor for twisted memory, daily life, body, escape and recovery. Gale (born 1983, Alaska; LA-based) blends performance, sound, light and found objects to probe unseen labor and power structures. The exhibition guides visitors from a quieter upstairs display into a subterranean sensory layering of sound, light and steam, inviting audiences to perceive their own bodies and emotions as part of the work. (mugwort: a fragrant herb commonly used in Korean incense and cooking)
